How Can Writing Longer Blog Posts Benefit You

Many of you may believe that writing shorter posts of 300 to 500 words is the only way that will benefit you. Well I also believe that writing longer posts can also do the same. In the following post, I’m going to convey to you the benefits of how writing longer post can definitely benefit you in the long run…

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

When it comes to writing blog posts, we want to make sure that they are valued packed for our readers. We want to make sure that your readers can take something beneficial to them that will help propel them for their success.

This is how a great reputation is build. Most of us start blogging to start building a readership. The more consistent your readers are in coming to your blog and commenting, the better the reputation your blog will get.

But there was a little controversy last year, which I find petty now. There are those people that are adamant about writing longer posts because you can add more value to it, and then there were those that were adamant about writing shorter posts, not only to add value, but also it gives the reader more time to read other posts.

Last year I wrote a lot of short posts which were less than 1,000 words. From that I wrote about every other day and was able to drop my alexa rating by a lot.

More people were coming to my blog posts, which meant that I had to keep up with replying to comments since I was blogging quite frequently.

To even support this strategy I even wrote a blog post on why it would be beneficial to you and your readers to write shorter blog posts.

I had a couple of people that disagree with this concept but for the most part, a lot of people understood where I was coming from and agree with it.

For those that disagreed, they indirectly pointed out that you couldn’t put enough quality into short blog posts, while some others actually spent time to count the words in my short blog posts after I mentioned that a perfect blog post should be 300 – 500 words.

I’ve probably should’ve said less than 1000 words 😉 , but I figured to each his/her own.

But after reading the comments and other blog post, I asked myself does length of a blog post really matter as for as quality and value?

From that it brought up another question of how often should I blog. Am I giving less value if I’m blogging everyday or every other day? Will I loose the traffic that I’m getting?

What I found that it really doesn’t matter. Which comes to this blog post. Since I already shared the benefits of writing short blog posts, I also like to share the benefits of writing longer blog posts!

The Benefits Of Longer Blog Posts

I can remember listening to Big Al Schreiter a couple of years ago on CD over how to get your prospects to listen. The key for them the listen is from your first sentence. If you’re first sentence grabs the prospect then you got them hooked.

This actually applies to blogging and article writing as well. Your targeted audience is looking for specific information, and if you focus you first sentence to their interest then more than likely they will read the rest of the blog.

So with that said, let me talk about how you can also benefit from writing longer posts.

You Can Add More Value

Like I said before, I believe it doesn’t matter how long or how short your blog post is as long as your readers take something from it. The fact of the matter is that the longer your blog posts are, the more value you’ll be able to put into them.

There is a lot of information on each subject. Some of your readers may not know what they don’t know, versus those that may heard of a particular subject but want more information about it. Either way it goes, you have a choice to either put all the information on one post, or create a series of short posts regarding the subject matter.

You Can Lower Your Bounce Rate

One of the hottest topics of 2013 is how to decrease your Bounce Rate. For those of you that don’t know, the bounce rate is measure on how long your readers stay on your blog before leaving. The longer they stay on, the better percentage your bounce rate have which of course looks great to Search Engines.

This is one advantage that longer blog posts have over shorter blog posts. If you have long, detailed blog posts, then it’s going to take your readers much more time to go through the information versus short blog posts. Thus, lowering your bounce rate percentage for search engines to drive traffic to your site.

You Can Go Into More Detail Without Leaving Readers Hanging

As I mentioned, you can write long, detailed oriented blog posts that your readers will appreciate. Have you ever been on blog posts and the information was so generic that you didn’t gain anything from it?

Either the author didn’t know too much about the subject or they just copied the idea from someone else. I do have to admit that I have written blog posts like this, which is why I’m aiming to write more quality posts that my readers can use for themselves. My goal is to give quality suggestions and convey my own experiences hoping that it’ll be the solutions to your problems.

It Also Looks Good To Search Engines

We all want traffic coming from every direction. But one thing that a lot of us want is organic traffic coming from search engines. If you’re someone that follows the rules and regulations of SEO, then writing great quality, relative detail oriented longer blog posts will definitely benefit you. The more you give your readers the more Search Engines will show their appreciation.

You’ll Start To Attract More Readers

Of course your readers will appreciate your longer blog posts. This ties into going into giving your readers what they’ve been looking for and also Search Engines will point people looking for your information to your blog. Your blog’s reputation will grow and they will see you as someone that’s not trying to make a sale, but someone that’s looking out for the success of others.

Your Content Will Get Share More Frequently

And when you’re giving freely quality information to your readers, your content will start to get shared by them. I’m speaking from experience. Whatever I read or training I go to, whenever I share this information in a long post, I start to get more comments as well as get to your content shared by them.

But you also have to remember it’s with great courtesy and tact that you return to your readers if they have a blog post. Plus it also doesn’t hurt to ask them at the end of each blog post to share your content with their fellow readers. It will definitely come full circle!

Now It’s Your Turn!

Do you feel that longer blog posts will be more beneficial to you versus short blog posts? Or do you feel quality is worth more than the length of your blog posts. Please share you comments below and share this posts with your friends. I look forward to read them!

Comments

Of course quality always wins. I don’t think that length of your posts matter as long as you are ensuring that your posts are adding value to your readers. If you are in business of adding value to other people, you don’t need to worry about these things.

Even search engines look for quality. Length of posts doesn’t matter. There are extremely successful bloggers who write extremely short posts and then there are those who write really really long posts. Both ends are successful but the common thing in both is – Quality!

Great article Sherman. I’ve often heard the arguments for both sides of the coin and like your point of keeping people on your site longer with longer blog posts, although most people are up to writing longer ones. That means giving an article lots of thought. When you factor in trying to write a meaningful and lengthly blog post every day or every other day, most people just aren’t up to it. But one of the things I’ve always advised people is to write from the heart. Others want to read real, meaningful stuff. If you’re just writing fluff without value, it will show, and your readers will go find what they need elsewhere.

This argument has been going on since I started blogging, which will be 4 years this year. Yes there are some advantage for writing longer posts over shorter one, but in all it’s all about the value you give to your readers. If you’re just writing just to get SEO traffic or sales, then this will definitely show and you’ll start to lose out on traffic! Thanks for sharing your opinion David!admin recently posted…How Can Writing Longer Blog Posts Benefit You

I really don’t think it matters much how long or short a blog post is. Quality content is the winner. I’ve seen some posts that take me so long to read, but I can get intrigued with the post and stay with it.

On the other hand, I’ve seen some very successful short posts that get to the point and have valuable content. And some that are so short with crappy content that I walk away with a big question mark above my head.

For me, I don’t have the ability to write good content short posts. I go on and on, and then have to edit it. I guess it is up to the writer his/or herself.

As for how many posts one should do per week? I strongly feel that we need to focus on our business aspect first. Answering questions, writing our emails to our list, engaging our followers. After that, what ever time one can write a blog and answer comments, go to their blogs and reciprocate is up to them.

For me, I can only handle one post a week. Sometimes every 5 days. More than that, I’ll be drowning.

It really doesn’t matter, and this is one of the things that takes us of our focus on our businesses. It’s all part of the noise when we should be concentrating on our lists and followers.

Yes I’ve read many of posts. Both good and bad, and of course long and short. I’ve read some short ones that were more valuable than the longer ones! But in all you want to keep your posts valuable for your readers.

I’ve also had to cut down on the frequency of posts that I write. I wanted to focused more on quality and on my readers as you just said. Right now, just like you, I’m focused on doing one post per week which I believe I’m writing better content and more important it’s straight from the heart!

When I started blogging, no one ever told me about long post or short post. But everyone I spoke with said as long as it is quality content with solutions for your readers, then stick with that.
At this present time, I am working on writing better content, not longer post.
As I search the internet and read content, I check out if they are short or long, but my eyes are set on the content.

That’s what matters. Sticking to writing better content and improving each day is what counts. It doesn’t matter how long or short it is. It’s all noise from the “media” 😉 As long as your readers can take something from what you writing, then that’s all that matters! Thanks Gladys!sherman smith recently posted…The Art Of Persuasion: Using Tact And Empathy To Be More Attractive

Lately your posts have got me thinking. I like your approach of using quality over quantity. You’re very right, Search engines love quality posts and that’s exactly what you’re doing. You deliver what they ask, and in return, they give you back what you want. Thanks for the great post!Nate Leung recently posted…Neucopia Merges With My Leads System Pro

This is something that really hit me at the end of last year! I wanted to be able to deliver the best content I can come up with for my readers. And as a result, this also looks good to search engines and you know we want to keep them happy as well! Thanks Nate!sherman smith recently posted…The Art Of Persuasion: Using Tact And Empathy To Be More Attractive

That’s a great topic for discussion for sure as this question still exists.

One thing that I hear all the time, and which you mentioned, is that Google prefers long articles, but again it seems that they prefer more like 2,000 words over even a good 1,000 word post. Based on that I’m trying more and more to get closer to 2,0000 words to see if it makes any difference.

Obviously, you can say way more in 1,500-2,000 words than you would in 700 words and because of that I feel that the quality can increase that way. However, if you ramble for 2,000 words that won’t be of any good for anyone.

I know, John Morrow, for example, won’t accept posts from guests on his blog that are less then 3,000 words. That’s his standard post length, so my guess is that for the most part length has to do with quality.

Yes this has been a big topic for years past and still seem like it’s still a hot topic for years to come. Especially with all the changes in Google’s algorithm.

Yes you can pack in a lot more quality when it comes to writing longer post. But I also believe we have to keep in mind the social proof as well. I haven’t checked the statistics on how long Google wants your posts to be, but I can guarantee that the more posts that people share, the more traffic and better your rank will be. I noticed this when I started writing one post a week that are much longer and getting shared versus writing shorter posts every other day with getting a little less shares.

Thats a pretty high standard for John Morrow, but I can guarantee that the length that he requires also has to do with quality!

Hey Sherman,
I’m so glad you wrote on this subject. There is a lot of talk about this and I’m one for a short, get to the point blog. My time is valuable so if you are just saying blah,blah,blah to make the blog more long then I’m not going to read your next one, that’s not value!

I can understand where you’re coming from. Short or long, it has to work with you and your schedule and as long as you’re delivering value then that what really matters at the end! Thanks for sharing your opinion!admin recently posted…How Can Writing Longer Blog Posts Benefit You

Loved this controversial topic, short or long? I believe it depends on the message you want to carry across. Sometimes it is a short message but delivered in a powerful way, if done right, or it could be long because as you mentioned, you don’t want to leave people hanging…
Thanks for sharing Sherman, as ever on point!

I’m glad you mentioned this. What message you want to carry across also is very important. Sometimes you can put it in a short post and still have the same effect as you would with a longer post. Most important is if your readers can resonate with it and/or take it as something of value to them! Thanks for sharing!admin recently posted…How Can Writing Longer Blog Posts Benefit You

That’s great that you focus on the quality of the content. It’s more of what you can deliver to your readers more so than what you need to satisfy search engines. At least that what I believe. If you’re able to deliver the content that your readers want then definitely this will carry over to satisfying search engines anyways!

Hi Sherman,
I started out with short posts, but just as part of my writing habits, my posts have evolved into longer posts. I’m more concerned about adding value, writing from the heart, writing about experiences what will benefit others. I think all the rest falls into place.

I think once you set your intentions, your writing style will flow from that. I think once you set your intentions, your writing style will flow from that.

I agree with you. If your intention is to make sure that your readers get gain as much value as they can then eventually you’ll start to write longer posts more often. Especially if you write from the heart and your personal experiences. Thanks for stopping by!sherman smith recently posted…How Do You Get Searched

Just as Kumar and Donna mentioned above, I also believe that the length of the post isn’t the criteria where the matter is concerned.

As you wrote, even a 500 word post can say a lot, just as a 3000 word post can. But if the content is what your readers like and want, then they’d get used to how long or short your posts are.

This was recently revealed to me in the survey I conducted last month (you can read all about it in the link left below), and my readers love my long posts, which you know run over 2000 words and sometimes have reached 3000+ too. I was amazed, and pleased too!

I think if you can say all you want to, without making your readers leave your blog, the length doesn’t matter at all. I guess my comments itself would touch 500 words sometimes, so that short of a post I still have to learn to write…Lol..:)

I somehow don’t like the idea of having a series or splitting a post as I think the link breaks. Yes, if the parts are totally unrelated, then it’s a good idea, or else I wonder how people would remember what they read a few days ago, when we try and put a new part to the previous one. But to each his/her own, isn’t it?

I’m glad Google now prefers posts that are 2000+ words, so that’s in a way good for me 🙂

Yes I agree that length doesn’t matter too much as long as you’re giving good quality content that’s going to help your readers out in the long run. Sometimes a 500 word post can be of more high quality than a 1000 word post. I’ve read some post where they would just ramble on and on, and it seems like they were just trying to meet an SEO criteria.

i do have to say that you have some very interesting long post. Like I’ve mentioned to you a couple of times, I like the fact that it makes me really think of myself. Your posts helps conjure up a self analysis of myself, where I’ve been, and where I’m going.

You definitely do not want to get to the point to where your readers leave your blog. If so, then definitely you want to make sure that you’re writing in good intensions, or at least check out your stats on which subjects are popular and which are not.

Writing a series can be great, but I understand where you’re coming from. Why write a bunch of posts on one subject, where you can put them all in one. A lot of times, people may catch the third post but don’t go back to the first or second. Other times they may just forget what you wrote. But like you said, you have to do what’s best for you.

I was told the same thing when I first started blogging. I was told to 400-500 words, but I couldn’t seem to write posts that short. I couldn’t say everything I wanted to say in that. Typically my posts range just around 1000 words. I think that’s about average, at least with the people around here.

I don’t see how much value we can give someone who writes such a short posts. I always feel like I’m left hanging and empty when a post ends abruptly or when it’s too short.

Anyway, I’m in full agreement with you. Keep doing what you’re doing. I think you’re right.

You did say this Sherman, and I believe that it is the value that counts, not the length … however the first sentences will tell a reader if they want to read more, so I think it’s good to re-visit the first paragraph after the blog is written and see if it can be improved and if it actually represents your post for excitement and accuracy!
I think a variety of long and short is good – each blogger has their own style, but different types of post often lend themselves to different lengths.
And as to how often, I think consistency counts here, and that also includes as you so rightly say replying to your readers. One must take that into account when producing blogs. One crafted and commented interactive blog is better than 2 with comments unanswered and no interaction.
Fantastic food for thought Sherman – thanks for your masterpiece 🙂
JacsJacs Henderson recently posted…Blogging Is Cool! 4 Ways Of Starting A Blog AND Your Blogging Empire

Value is key and everyone has their own style of writing for sure. There’s have to be balance of following the rules of writing quality post and yet with your style and touch.

You’re definitely right that the first sentence is going to let your readers know whether they want to read more or not. It sets the tone for the rest of the blog and give your readers some insight of what to expect.

One other important reason why we blog is also for the engagement. If you’re consistent with blogging and replying to your comments then it makes the all the better for you in the long run. Search Engines love this and this will help you get more organic traffic.

This is very interesting information Sherman. I was also told about 500 – 800 words but I know if I come across a long post and it doesn’t grab me in the first paragraph then I don’t normally read to the end but just take snippets. Thanks for sharing and has clarified a few things.Merle recently posted…Network Like A Pro – Tip #3 Engaging

The first sentence of a blog post matters a lot. I usually do the same thing. If it doesn’t grab me in that first sentence or paragraph, then I’m off to reading a different one. Thanks for stopping by!sherman smith recently posted…How Do You Get Searched

I remember writing about this on my first blog. Back then, my idea was to focus on medium blog posts (so don’t pick anything…pick medium – more than a 1000 words, but less than 2000 or something along those lines).

I don’t really care anymore. As long as we provide value, it’s all good (I understand that value is a vague term….perhaps it is better if I say ‘as long as I think I provide value to the majority of the target audience’).

The length also depends upon the author. For some, writing long posts is a piece of cake, but they find hard to write shorter and more concise blog posts (while others find short posts easier to write).

Both long and short posts have their advantages (And disadvantages). Ultimately, it’s up to the blog owner 🙂

The word value tends to be thrown around a lot and the word itself tends to lose ‘value’. But either way it goes, you want to define what will be of value to your readers when it comes down to it.

The length doesn’t matter a whole lot as long as your readers can take something from your posts that’s going to help propel them in the future.

Yes, I’m one of those people that use to find it hard to write long posts, and still at times I do. I use to write short posts every other day, but now I’m writing longer posts once a week. Why? Well because it works with my schedule now. Plus I wanted to put more quality in them!

Hey Sherman,
Long or short. I tend towards shorter posts just because of the shorter attention span these days on the internet and in general. I know when I’m reading info online I tend to scan to get an overall feel for the content. Then go back and read it. But value is key. And with so many writing about the same thing, your content demands quality and value to attract readers…Lesly Federici recently posted…Oh Man, Does Your Mind Feel Like The Wild Wild West?

Yes, the internet has a bunch of noise in it. It can definitely be the indicator to drive your attention else where. But I basically do the same thing you do. I usually scan blog posts and then I go back to read them more into detail. It works better like that for me. But as long as you are conveying value then the length of your posts doesn’t matter.

The year started out great, but now in February, I’m trying to get over a cold!

But yes, both short and longer posts have their advantage, and I would agree with you about longer posts. When the subject manner is intense, then the best route to go is to write longer posts.

Also another advantage of writing longer posts is that Google are attracted to them. I believe they draw their attention more so to those that are over 2000 words.

As far as me, the main reason why I started writing longer posts is because of a schedule changed. I use to write short posts every other day but now I write longer posts once a week. But I do enjoy them and I can see it as something thats going to help me become a better writer.

I have to agree with you. Although it doesn’t matter what length it is, depending on the subject matter, you want to write your posts accordingly. Sometimes you have to write longer posts to get your point across versus shorter posts!

This is something I mentioned in my posts on the benefits of writing short post. I don’t know if you read it, but I mentioned that it’s great to think of the reader when there’s more posts besides yours that they want to read.

But now I came to the conclusion that if the blog posts is very valuable to them, no matter how long or short, then they’ll make time to read it despite the other blogs that are out there.

Hello Sherman,
What a nice and lovely post you have here. Long post and short post, uh? We have two kinds of bloggers and both bloggers prefer the short or the long post.
Short post is easy to read and many readers love reading short posts…
Long post is great and holds great value to it. I personaly hate reading a long post that doesn’t have flavor or style or what can hold you down to read the complete story.
writing a long post is not compulsory. if you can’t make it long and interesting, don’t force yourself.
Thanks for the interesting post buddy. Do have a blessed week ahead…Babanature recently posted…Facebook and SEO: How to Bring Together

Both long posts and short posts have the potential to be valuable. Although Search Engines value longer posts more, I feel that we should focus more on our audience than trying to keep up with the rules and regulations of search engines.

Yes sometimes forcing yourself to write longer posts can lead to disaster, depending on the subject matter. Just let it flow naturally because some subjects can be explained quite well, or even better in a short post more so than a longer post.

I think it depends on who you talk to as for what this opinion will be but like Kumar said, it’s always been about quality period. If you can crank out a 500 word post that’s jam packed with quality content then go for it. If it takes you more words then I say go for that too, whichever suits you best.

When I first started writing we were taught to keep them around 400 to 500 words but that’s what worked best at that time. I can’t speak for anyone else but I can’t crank out a 500 word post and share what I want. Mine are always longer because I put a lot of me in there hoping to help my readers feel comfortable so that does take up more words.

I see your point as far as what others say about this but overall I think it just depends on whether or not it’s quality content or not. That’s the bottom line my friend.

Thanks for sharing this though and you definitely have everyone giving you their own opinion on this. Love it! 😉

There has been this back and forth conflict on who’s right about the length of a blog post, but in the end, does it really matter? The only thing that matter is quality content, and if your readers can take something from your posts, then you’ve done your job no matter what the length is.

Yes back in the day (3 or 4 years ago to be exact) writing between 400 and 500 words was the thing to do. But a lot has changed since then, especially with the changes that Google has been making.

That’s exactly why it doesn’t matter too much. Yes, true, it looks better to Google if you write 2000+ words, but in either case you’re goal is to appeal to your audience. Trying to force yourself to write more can in turn start the process of devaluing your content.